Recovering Together
by BookWhisperer101
Summary: Frank lost Hazel in the war and there's only one person who can relate to his pain. No romance, just pure friendship.


**Hey guys, I'm back! A little cute friendship fic between Frank and Annabeth, because really, there aren't enough (if any) of these. Tell me how if you guys like it or not.**

**Flames are accepted.**

**Disclaimer: I own no characters in the PJO/ HOO series, Uncle Rick does.**

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It hurts. It's been an entire year and it still hurts. It hurts every time I think of her. It hurts every time I think about what happened that night. It hurts even worse knowing I couldn't do anything about it.

It hurts me that I'm here right now, and she's not. It hurt that it wasn't her first - oh no - but her second chance at life and she died - once again - way too early.

The Fates are cruel that way.

They make sure to take the ones you care about the most, just to see how you'll handle it.

And I'm not handling it very well.

It pains me to no end to wake up in a good mood then realize three seconds later that she's not here. That she's not here waking up with me right now. It pains me that I won't get to see her smiling, happy - go - lucky face anymore.

I'm gonna miss that flustered look she gets whenever we held hands. Or that scandalous look she always gave Percy and Annabeth when they'd always come up on the deck of the Argo2 late with swollen lips and messed up hair.

And though she was the youngest, she was like the mother to everyone (well not to me considering she was my girlfriend) aboard that ship. She was the one that managed to keep us in an optimistic mood. She was the peace maker of the crew.

She was the one and only (though I'm pretty sure you already figured it out) Hazel Levesque.

And without her sometimes I wonder. What's the point?

What's the point of happiness when you don't have the person who made you happy? What's the point of dressing neat if you don't have the person that you want to impress? What's the point of laughing when you don't have the person to laugh with or the person who made you laugh? What's the point of living when you don't have the person you wanted to live with.

Those are the thoughts that always flash through my mind: 'Without Hazel, just what's the point of anything?'

That night came back to me:

_Everything was going fine - well as fine as a demigod battle could be. We were so close to defeating Gaea.  
_

_I was busy fighting a dracenae_,_ while Hazel was beside me. She had just finished killing a cyclops when we started getting surrounded, and we had no backup seeing as everyone was busy with their own monsters. With my Hazel's sword fighting and my animal changing, we had managed to narrow it down to like one left._

_Hazel had just finished killing the final monster in the group and she turned to me smiling - covered in monster dust, but smiling none the less._

_"Thirty down. Plenty more to go" she had said._

_"Yeah, let's go"_

_I had turned to walk away, and then it happened. It happened like it had in that Hunger Games movie. You know the part when Katniss had just freed Rue from that trap and this guy killed her? Yeah, it happened like that._

_I had just turned around when a spear whizzed past me. I had managed to dodge it, but Hazel wasn't so lucky. When I looked back at Hazel, I saw the spear was lodged into her midsection._

_I saw her stare at it in fear and shock for a moment, before she collapsed. I caught her before she hit the ground and gently lied her on the ground. Tears came to my eyes as I stared at her dying figure._

Why couldn't she just stay here with me? Why couldn't we get the happy ending we deserve? Why did she have to leave so early; AGAIN?!

It just doesn't seem fair. I mean, at first when people said that Annabeth and Percy had really bad luck, I thought they were just exaggerating. But now, I know what they mean.

I couldn't keep anything good in life even if I paid the Fates themselves 1,000 denarii.

And, I'm not going to lie, I'd sometime pull out the piece of firewood and just stare at it for a while; wondering.

Like did Hazel really achieve Elysium like she was supposed to the first time? Or did she choose to be born into a new life? Or if she's watching over me right now? Or how would she feel if I chose to be there with her right now? Or-

"Frank!" a voice called out interrupting my thoughts. I saw Annabeth coming down the beach towards me.

"Hey" she greeted once she reached me.

I smiled down at her "Hey"

"So how are you enjoying Camp Half-Blood so far?"

Once the war was over, the two opposing camps made peace. Now, each cabin/cohort take turns visiting each other every 2 weeks. Reyna -my fellow praetor- stays at Camp J, while I go to Camp HB. Right now, the entire fifth cohort was at Camp Half-Blood and the Hermes cabin is at Camp Jupiter (pray for our camp).

"It's pretty cool. Different from Camp Jupiter, but in a good way" I answered, and it was true. "Though the Ares cabin is a little hostile and doesn't believe I'm their brother" I added.

Annabeth laughed "That's pretty typical for them. You'll get used to it though"

We settled into comfortable silence and just stared at the ocean.

Finally I broke the silence "So how are you holding up?" I asked Annabeth.

Annabeth sighed and her shoulders sagged "I'm holding" she answered.

Did I forget to mention the other unfortunate event that happened that day? I did? Well in that case here's what happned; Percy died.

I know right?

The Fates cut not one -oh, no because that wasn't enough-, but two life strings.

So here's what happened. Annabeth was pounced on by a hellhound and she (accidentally) let out a scream. Percy heard it, tore his attention away from Polybotes and Polybotes ran him with his spear. Disappointing right?

Now Annabeth blames herself for his death. She thinks maybe if she hadn't screamed, then maybe Percy would be alive. It's quite sad and totally unfair.

Having two of the seven dead, two more heartbroken, then you have everyone else trying to help and heal the wounds.

"You'll get through it" I said and flashed her a small reassuring smile.

Annabeth didn't say anything; she was too busy watching the waves lap against the shore. I wonder if she was thinking of Percy.

Finally she spoke "It's just that we've been through so much together. After 5 years of questing for each other -always having each other's back- it ends like this?" Annabeth looked at me with misty eyes. "Do you really think that's fair Frank? He saved the gods' asses not once, but twice, and the one time he needed saving from them, they didn't do a damn thing.

"The Fates are cruel. They pick the people they _know_ we care about most and just kill them off like, '_oh, they didn't do anything important for the world. Let's just kill them_'"

I stared at Annabeth shocked. I mean, yes, I feel her pain, but these are the Fates she's talking about right now. They could easily kill her without a second thought about it.

"Maybe you should calm down Annabeth, I mean- "

"No, I will not 'calm down' Frank!" she snapped at me. "They've taken the people in my life that I care about that I felt close to. They've taken Luke, Silena, Beckendorf, and now they've taken Hazel and Percy." Then she shook her head. "You don't understand"

Something about that last statement made me snap "Oh yes, I understand. I understand _perfectly_, Annabeth. I understand how it feels to have the people I love taken from me. You think I didn't care about Percy? Of course I did. He was like my _brother_. I also lost my mother; to war. And I feel as though that has to be some sick joke conjured by the Fates, considering the fact that my father _is_ the war god. I witnessed my grandmother's house burn; while she was _inside_ and I'm not even sure if she got out or not. I lost Hazel right in front of me and I couldn't do anything to stop it. I freakin' _loved _her, Annabeth. So yes, I _do_ understand" My voice cracked at the end and tears were in my eyes, though they didn't fall.

Annabeth stared at me for a second before bursting into tears. She sat down on the damp sand and pulled her knees to her chest and cried into her knees. Tears streamed down her face and heart-breaking sobs escaped her lips. I immediately felt guilty.

I sat down next to her and put my arm around her shoulders, pulling her to my chest. I suddenly felt like an older brother comforting his little sister, even though Annabeth was older than me.

"Gods, I'm sorry Annabeth" I apologized. "It's just that... I don't know what it is. Maybe it's because I'm still not over the fact that I lost my one true love..." and then I felt something wet and warm slide down my cheek and I realized it; I was crying.

Annabeth turned and wrapped her arms around me and I put my chin in top of her head; letting the tears fall.

After a few minutes of crying (and when we managed to compose ourselves), Annabeth said "It's not your fault. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I'm sorry"

"It's okay"

Annabeth removed her arms and we just sat there, staring out at the ocean.

"We're going to be okay" I said trying to reassure both Annabeth and myself.

"Yeah" she agreed. "We're going to try and move on someday"

"Yeah, you could be my wing woman and I could be your wing man" I joked.

"Yep, but she has to get my approval first. I have to make sure she's worthy enough to be in a relationship with the Frank Zhang"

"Same goes for the guy. He has to be worthy enough to be in a relationship with the Annabeth Chase."

Then Annabeth and I began laughing. Maybe at the hopelessness in the situation. Or maybe because we're crazy. I don't know.

"You are offically my new BFFALAWL" Annabeth told me.

"What is a BFFALAWL?" I asked, chuckling.

"A Best Friend For As Long As We Live, duh" Annabeth answered with a roll of her eyes.

"I suppose you want to create a hand shake also?" I asked sarcastically.

"Well..."

"Seriously?" Annabeth stood and held out her hand for me, which I accepted and pulled myself up (because we all know Annabeth can't lift me).

"Yep"

And that's exactly what we did. We made this extremely long and weird hand shake that included hip bumps, fist bumps, fist pumps, sound effects, explosions, and a big hug at the end. Anyone that passed would've thought we were crazy.

We pulled away when the conch sounded for dinner.

"We're going to get through this" Annabeth assured.

"Together" we said in unison.

Annabeth and I smiled at each other before she blurted out "Race you!" and took off, running in the direction of the dining pavilion.

"Hey you cheated!" and I started running in the same direction.

Yep, we really were recovering together.

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**So tell me what you guys think about it. Thank you and good night (or good morning, whatever).**


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